SPARTA, Ky. -- Actor Jason Priestley, on the fast track to a major professional racing career, was in serious condition with a concussion, broken back and other injuries from a head-on crash in his race car at almost 180 mph.

	Jason Priestley is rushed from the infield hospital to an awaiting helicopter after crashing during a practice session for the Kentucky 100.

The former "Beverly Hills 90210" television star, competing in the new Infiniti Pro Series, spun into the wall at Kentucky Speedway during practice Sunday.

He was scheduled to undergo further tests, Indy Racing League medical director Henry Bock said.

"He is certainly breathing on his own," Bock said Sunday night. "His condition has stabilized. His vital signs have been stable since he left here."

Priestley was flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center with a spinal fracture in the middle of his back and a closed head injury, as well as a broken nose and broken bones in both feet.

"We have no indication from any of the scans that he's had that he has any further damage to his head," Bock said. "He has his eyes open, he looks around and will follow commands."

Mary Margaret Colliver, a spokeswoman for the medical center, said Priestley remained in serious, but stable, condition Monday morning.

Priestley, a native of British Columbia, became a TV heartthrob starring with Luke Perry, Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth in the Fox network's "Beverly Hills 90210," which ran from 1990 to 2000.

In recent years, however, he began focusing more of his attention on auto racing and was considered to be a knowledgeable and talented driver.

"He's gotten to know everybody and changed everybody's opinion of him. He's shown he's a good racer. He's been running up front," driver Ed Carpenter said.

"You know, it's too bad, but it happens to all of us," Cory Witherill said. "The majority of times we can get out and walk away. ... Unfortunately, it does affect the driver every now and then."

Priestley, 32, has had other crashes.

In April, he crashed a powerboat during a race in Miami, leaving one crew member with cracked ribs. In 1995, he crashed into a ditch during the Michelin SCCA Pro Rally in Olympia, Wash., but recovered to finish the race.

Last year, he completed an alcohol counseling program he was ordered to attend when he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge stemming from a December 1999 car crash in the Hollywood Hills. Priestley's Porsche was totaled and a friend broke an arm in the accident.

On Saturday, he qualified his Dallara-Infiniti -- similar to an IRL car but smaller and less powerful -- for a start next to pole-winner A.J. Foyt IV for Sunday's 100-mile race.

He crashed coming out of the second turn in the final practice, apparently after driving through a patch of "oil-dry," an absorbent material that had been spread on part of the track about 10 minutes earlier to soak up oil from another car.

"He got sideways and he corrected and then shot off the track," said former Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, whose son, Arie Jr., competes with Priestley in the Infiniti Pro Series, the IRL's developmental series.

"He turned right into the wall, and his first impact was basically head-on," Luyendyk said. "I saw it from the top of the roof. What I'm thinking is that's really the one big hit that he took that might have hurt him."

Priestley was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and produced and directed a number of documentaries, television dramas, cable network specials and music videos. His film credits include "Tombstone," "Eye of the Beholder," "Calendar Girl" and "Love and Death on Long Island."

He began racing in 1991 in the California Rally Series and won his first race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1998. Last season, he was a broadcast analyst for the IRL series, and this year, joined the Kelley Racing team in the Infiniti Pro Series.

He is seventh in the series standings.